In this political science course you will learn about the twin concepts of federalism and decentralization. You will develop an understanding of the core ideas that federalism and decentralization rest on, and study the building blocks that make them both work. Following a general overview of both federalism and decentralization, we will examine a number of case-studies from Africa where federalism and decentralization have been changing the continent’s political landscape in the last twenty years, coinciding with unprecedented levels of economic growth.
What is federalism and how is it different from decentralization? What are the core ideas behind these concepts? Do federalism and decentralization enhance democracy, governance and diversity? Is that why virtually all countries south of the Sahara are now either federal or decentralized? We will be looking at Africa's track-record in order to answer these questions.
By the end of the course, you will have acquired a general knowledge of federalism/decentralization and additional empirical knowledge of a number of African cases. Upon completion you will also acquire the ability to unpack and understand a variety of potential consequences of federalism/decentralization reforms in the developing world.

Avaliações

AS

Incredibly thorough for a free online course. I learned quite a lot and the use of case studies was very helpful

MS

Jul 18, 2017

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

Proud to be part of this learning space, looking forward for more of your offerings.

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Critical Issues in Federalism and Decentralization

This module will cover critical issues in Federalism and Decentralization, and will bring the knowledge and insights from previous modules together. The notion of state capacity will be unpacked into political, administrative, infrastructural, and economic components. We will also evaluate the relative importance of international know-how and local traditions.

Ministrado por

Dr. Jan Erk

Transcrição

Decentralization currently enjoys unparalleled popularity in the developing world. 80% of all developing and transition countries have undertaken some form of decentralization reforms over the past decades. The less flashy technocratic sibling seems to have left federalism behind in its wake. To be fair, federalism is not too far behind. They both offer the same three promises. As you'll recall, we had in fact started the course with the three promises of federalism and decentralization. Better democracy, and good governance, and in the management of diversity. These promises were particularly prominent in the agendas of international organizations, such as the United Nations Development Agency, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, who all encouraged, supported, and often financed decentralist reforms in Sub-Saharan Africa. Such international organizations, development and aid agencies, and various donors, prescribe decentralization as part of structural adjustments needed to expand the markets, create or strengthen democracy, and to promote good governance. Many also lend financial and institutional support to decentralization reforms throughout Africa. That is, various international organizations not only provided various types of funding, but also institutional know-how In the design of decentralized institutions. International experts imported into Africa the best practices from west of this end. And many international donors did not confine themselves to advocating decentralization only, but they made the implementation of such policies a prerequisite for receiving monetary support. United Nations development programs, Africa's futures programs, subsequently became one of the key players in decentralization reforms. And this is not a pattern limited to Sub-Saharan Africa, of course. It applies to the global south in general. Between 1990 and 2007, the World Bank spent $7.4 billion on decentralization programs throughout the developing world. But the international role in African federalism and decentralization is not only about these big international organizations, their development goals, and their tendency to prescribe best practices in the global south as a condition for receiving support. In addition to the development and aid agencies prescribing blueprints borrowed from the western world, there are also smaller international organizations, specifically targeting the global dissemination of the scholarly know-how in federalism and decentralization. The prime example of this is the Forum of Federations. We are very lucky to have Shawn Houlihan, Forum of Federations Africa Director to talk us for this course. You'll see that we have a guest lecture by him on these very issues. Now guest lectures for this course are not required components, but I strongly recommend you watch it. You will see how many of the issues we discuss in this course are in fact echoed in the work of the Forum of Federations. The work the Forum of Federations does is quite different from the facile institutional prescriptions doled out by some of the other bigger international organizations. Despite its relatively small size, the forum plays a big role in regional peace initiatives, particularly in the Horn of Africa. If you're interested in such initiatives, do check their webpage for a more detailed description of their activities. In addition to the Forum of Federations, two academic institutes have become the leading scholarly venues for the study of federalism and decentralization in Africa, as well as the doctoral training ground for the new generation of African academics specializing in federalism and decentralization. The Community Law Center of the University of Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa, has emerged as the intellectual hub for federalism and decentralization studies in Southern Africa. Professor Nico Steytler, with his colleagues at the Community Law Center, have also been actively involved in various reform initiatives throughout Africa. The staff and the students of the center have a much deeper understanding of both the local context, as well as the so-called international best practices. That's another guest lecture you should not miss. And further up in the North of the continent is the Institute of Federalism of Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. Another intellectual hub for Federalism and decentralization studies in Africa. The director of the institute Professor [FOREIGN] shares his insights of Ethiopia and comparative federalism with us in the third guest lecture of our course. Don't miss that one as well. Just like the Community Law Center, Addis Ababa University's Institute of Federalism is a doctoral training ground where knowledge of the international best practices meet in-depth knowledge of the local context, as well as the regional context. In fact, the sister issue of the issue of federalism also at Addis Ababa University has a research agenda committed precisely to this. The issue of Peace and Security Studies is committed to the examination of what they call African solutions to African problems. I'm sure it will be of interest to quite a few of you. So do check out their web page to see more of their work. Early 19th century German philosopher Hegel once wrote, Was is bekannt is nicht erkannt. The familiar cannot be seen. You remember in module one, I had a note of caution for those of you from federal countries. Hold your verdict on other federal countries, I said. Not every national experience from one federal country neatly and automatically translates into direct lessons for others. The design, workings, and the perception of federalism can indeed be quite different in different countries. The way federal politics works in your country, might not hold for each and every country where federalism and decentralization exist. The more we learn about other cases and context, the more it helps us see our own countries in a different light. This allows us to see patterns that otherwise would have been not that easily discernible had we been familiar with only one case. Comparing our experience with that of other countries deepens the perspective of our own political system. And this is that old age idea that knowledge of the self is gained through the knowledge of others. As the British poet Rudyard Kipling put it, What know they of England who only England know. As our course come to an end, some finals words perhaps are warranted. So far, this is the one and only massive open online course that takes on the analysis of federalism and decentralization in the African context. So we have to cover a lot, but not all of it in-depth. Despite the narrow and technical terminology that often accompanies both concepts, both have a real impact on citizens' lives and consequences beyond federalism decentralization. After all, both are part of the broader political, constitutional, social, economic, demographic, and geographic contexts, both national and global. And this necessitates the casting of a wide net in our analyses. Africa is diverse, African countries are diverse, the issues are diverse, the institutional reform initiatives are diverse, so there is no one-size fits all certainty here. That being said, there are some patterns that apply across the cases and we tried to expose these patterns. Throughout the continent, it seems there are indeed certain generalizable patterns dependent on the political context. And, we tried to expose various consequences of federalism in decentralization in a way that could help reintroduce politics to a topic that is so far remained insulated behind the terminology of technocratic expertise. What is important to remember here is that both federalism and decentralization have real political consequences that cannot be reduced to technical soundbites. The track record of federalism in Africa tends to be somewhat mixed. Not all promises of federalism and decentralization have been met. There are those diverse lessons, positive lessons, negative lessons, which all necessitate a comprehensive and systematic treatment off the track record of federalism and decentralization. The consequences are neither unqualified good, but nor are the unqualified bad. There is just a great deal of complexity that require scholarly unpacking in light of the analytical angles and the scholarly perspectives. The very last sentence of our introductory module was, had there been easy answers in the world, we would've already found them. This requires shining the spotlight to all corners in search of the keys to unlock the workings of federalism and decentralization. There is a lot more to be understood and explained, and I hope some of you will join us in the comparative federalism scholarly community to pursue this. Many thanks for following the course and hopefully see you another occasion. And until then, goodbye.